August 2009 Archives

Below is one of the many sweet little female Ruby-throated hummingbirds that visit our feeders regularly. Can you see her beautiful wings?

CrabAppleLane Hummingbird - August 30, 2009

Joey's brother, Mike, got married last weekend. Joey, Samuel, and Luke were all in the wedding and looked absolutely adorable in their tuxedos. Luke was an unknown entity until he actually walked down the aisle. At the rehearsal on Thursday he was very uncooperative- only walking down the aisle with me and with his hand over his face. But he got over it that night and did a great job walking down the aisle! They had a great band and we all had fun. The boys and Savannah stayed with us till the end and all were perfect little angels. We'll do it all again in 6 weeks when Joey's other brother, Scotty, gets married. The boys are in that wedding as well.

Samuel and Luke

Brianne, Patrick and I went to New Orleans for the weekend. Brianne and I went to attend Angela's brother-in-law, Mike's wedding. Patrick went to visit Aaron, Mary Catherine and Mary Catherine's friend Marly. We all had a WONDERFUL time. We left after work on Friday and got there at 11:40 p.m., but because of the time difference, our bodies said it was 12:40 a.m. AND way past my bedtime! Saturday morning we woke up to Tastee Donuts, courtesy of Bunk. What a nice treat! Brianne, Bunk, Mama Barbara and I ate shrimp po-boys at R&O's for lunch. They were delicious as usual. Brianne and Bunk stopped off on the way back to Angela's to get a sno-ball. I had to get back to babysit for Angela while she had her hair done but was too full for one anyway.

The wedding was at Saint Francis of Assisi Church uptown. It was a beautiful wedding in a gorgeous church. Everything about the wedding was perfect. Samuel and Luke did a great job looking adorable walking up the very long aisle. There was a little concern that Luke might balk at walking up the aisle because he was not very cooperative at the rehearsal but he walked up the aisle like a champ. Actually, he was being pulled by the pretty little girl in the middle. They came to the pew Angela was in where she had a bag of goodies waiting for them. The hit of the night was an airplane with propellers that Joey's mother had bought for them. They were entertained by those planes the entire night. Savannah looked like an exquisite china doll in her elegant beaded dress. She was a perfect angel the whole night long!

The reception was at Gallier Hall downtown. It was very extravagant. The music was provided by an 11 piece band that was more like an act you'd see in Las Vegas. The women in the band even had a costume change. They played great dance music from the 60's and 70's mostly, but there were some current songs thrown in too. They sang "All the Single Ladies" by Beyonce when it was time to toss the bouquet which was really cute.

After the reception, Phil, Christina, Bunk, Brianne and I went to the Fairmont Hotel which is where the bridal party was spending the night. We visited with Mike, Cherie and their friends for a while and then it was time for some of us to go home. Some of us - not me, Dootsie or Phil continued the party in the French Quarter and did not arrive home until 6:30 a.m. There was a group "Devil Went Down To Georgia" karaoke performance we missed which reportedly was a disaster. No one in their group videoed it which I hear was a good thing!

Sunday, Angela and I split a roast beef on muffaletta bread from Come Back In. Brianne was a little miffed that we did not include her on the order, but she did not wake up until 40 or something ridiculous! Joey worked his magic frying fish for a crowd. Lizzie couldn't come due to Polina having fever but she sent Mary Catherine and Joe. Janine, Aaron, Julie, Katie, Lars, Amy, Christina, Jackson, Jacob, and Jude all came to Angela's. We also had baked macaroni, Katies' yummy Greek salad, pepper jelly appetizer and fresh green beans. Everything tasted so good!

We got some beignets on the way out of town which was our final "got to have when we come to town food." They were so good too! We had such a fantastic time and I truly wish it wasn't a 500 mile trip because we would all certainly love to come more often!

Sue, Katie, Angela, Christina, Savannah

I think all of my photos taken indoors at Mom's house have the yellow tint to them. This was Stephen's first foray into sugar according to Sue.

Stephen's First Birthday Cake

Stephen's First Birthday - L-R - Christina, Sue, Stephen, and Barbara

I admit it. I have a fickle relationship with onions. I want them on some things but not others. I want them on some things some days but not others. I like them cooked sometimes and raw other times. I do have rules about them, though. Here are a few:

• First and foremost, I have a very low threshold for them. You can easily put too many of them on or in anything I eat.
• On a burger, they can be raw or grilled but they have to be chopped. Sliced into rings won't do.
• Onion rings, lightly-battered and freshly-cooked, are excellent. Once they cool down and the batter starts sliding off of the onion, I'm done.
• Cooked in most dishes, they're fine and hard to overdo. Hamburger steak with onions gives me fierce heartburn but just try to keep me from eating it. Dishes like red beans and rice, beef or chicken stew, or crawfish pie can't be done without them.
• Potato salad, on the other hand, is just fine without onions, thankyouverymuch. I have grown into the ability to take or leave potato salad with onions but I still prefer mine without. There were with and without factions in the Ferrara house. "You won't even know they're in there" was always responded to with "Then why put them in there?" It was hopeless. Mom and Dad started making two batches.

Got any rules of your own about onions? Do others in your household share them?

Went to see Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince yesterday afternoon. Matinee tickets were $7/ea + $3 service charge for online purchase. We get the Number 2 concession special, which is a bucket of popcorn and two large drinks. With tax, that was $16+. A matinee for two with concessions used to be about $10. We're out $33 before we sit down these days. Enough of that. The first movie wasn't as good as its book counterpart. The 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th movies were actually better than their books in my opinion. Spoiler info below the jump. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is next, will be in two parts, and will have to be unbelievable to live up to the expectations it has.

Unless you don't mind reading the spoiler stuff, I recommend you wait until you see the movie to comment or read the continuation and the comments, if any.